Wen Ho Lee is as close as it gets in contemporary Asian Pacific American history to a mythic victim of racism in our nation.

Unlike a symbol of injustice like a Rosa Parks, Lee was no activist and did not seek to challenge society. He was merely an ordinary Asian American scientist doing his life’s work. And solely because of his race was he wrongly suspected of being the most heinous kind of criminal to democracy — a spy.

For his ordeal, Lee rarely receives the respect he deserves and now lives in quiet obscurity after being stripped of his livelihood as a nuclear scientist. To add insult to injury, some still don’t think Lee is innocent.

Meanwhile, Bill Richardson, secretary of energy in the late 1990s and the man who fingered Lee and presided over his public flogging, remains in the limelight and is now being honored as President-elect Obama’s new secretary of commerce.

That may be the ultimate injustice to Wen Ho Lee.

Simply for his lead role in the Lee case, Richardson should have a karma deficit so huge that he should be happy to remain ensconced as the popular governor of New Mexico, far from the national stage.

But politics and ambition being what they are, Richardson has apparently rehabilitated himself to glory in the last eight years. His recent unsuccessful run for president seemed to be waged on the basis that someone who was Latino had to do it. Yet it’s likely he never saw himself with a real shot to win, and instead used the campaign to position himself to fail upwards.

Sure enough, at this year’s Democratic National Convention, the also-ran spoke on that last memorable night at Invesco Field and achieved what his failed presidential run could not — a real shot at national prominence and a place in Obama’s inner circle. I mean, there’s got to be a Latino in there somewhere, right?

Too bad it’s someone responsible for what is arguably the most prominent case of racism and xenophobia against Asian Americans since the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Richardson, the charming politician, would love for us all to forget Wen Ho Lee. But we must insist that APAs and all Americans go back to the memory vault and re-experience the pain of that episode, which caused a ripple effect from the white towers of academia to the dim sum houses of Chinatown and everywhere in between where Asian Americans were.

For a time in our country, every Chinese American was seen as a suspect. Whether student or professor, Asian or Asian American, just enough doubt was cast to impact all working relationships.

Wen Ho Lee’s pain suddenly became all our pain. We were all suspects. Before Sept.11 and the terrorist fear, the profiling standard was not a man with a turban, but a brainy Chinese or Asian American scientist or student with access to some form of technology, top secret or not. It really didn’t matter. All that mattered was your Asian heritage.

Richardson’s disgusting role
These days, the modern memory vault seems to be YouTube (check out this short recap of the Lee saga at: tiny.cc/BGHDZ). It’s a painful reminder of Richardson’s adamant defense of his role in the Lee case. The clip includes Richardson being grilled on 60 Minutes, as well as Lee being interviewed on NBC. There’s a shot of the cell where Lee spent nine months in solitary confinement, waiting for the trial that would exonerate him from espionage charges.

The broadcast clips unfortunately do not represent the overall media coverage, which was as close as it gets to a modern “yellow journalism.” The media and the government were in lockstep, feeding on each other. There were so many leaks to the media from federal sources that it could not have been done without some orchestration from the top of the Department of Energy. The New York Times was so gung-ho about being leaked upon, it lost its sense of ethics.

But even The Times was able to see its error. It ran a massive apology to Lee for its failure to present a fair human portrait of Lee and admitted to an over reliance on a few government sources.

The Times had no choice but to apologize. Even Judge James Parker, the presiding judge in the Lee case, issued an apology to Lee upon his release for how badly government prosecutors had bungled the case.
One man should have had the moral courage to change all of that history: Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. But he didn’t.

Now he hopes we’ve forgotten all about it. It would be quite the norm to forget what happens to Asian Americans; we have constantly been ignored, overlooked. How many Asian Americans do you see mentioned in the Obama transition? So why should we expect anything different now? Because America cannot afford to forget what happened to Lee.

President-elect Obama should not give in to Richardson’s charm or to the large Latino vote he claims. Latino activists have propped Richardson up as the “Latino guy.” But how many people outside a small circle even know Richardson is Latino? Besides, his race is irrelevant; ours isn’t.

A Richardson selection is purely a matter of ambition and political payback, not the public good. Surely there is someone better for the commerce job who doesn’t have a history of trading in xenophobia?

President-elect Obama shouldn’t dismiss concerns of Asian Americans who overwhelming supported his campaign. The choice sends a negative message to APAs everywhere. Richardson represents a regression. He is simply unfit to be part of any “cabinet of change.”
On-line petitions are being circulated at http://www.wenholee.org/ and petitiononline.com/GovBillR/petition.html.For updates and other musings on the Obama transition, David Chiu and more, check out amok.asianweek.com.

E-mail: emil@amok.com.

About the Author

For almost 15 years, Emil Guillermo wrote his "Amok" column for AsianWeek, which was the largest English language Asian American newsweekly in the nation. "Amok" was considered the most widely-read column on Asian American issues in the U.S.
His thoughtful and provocative social commentaries have appeared in print in the San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate.com, San Francisco Examiner, USA Today, Honolulu Star Bulletin, Honolulu Advertiser, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and in syndication throughout the country.
His early columns are compiled in a book "Amok: Essays from an Asian American Perspective," which won an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation in 2000.
Guillermo's journalistic career began in television and radio broadcasting. At National Public Radio, he was the first Asian American male to anchor a regularly scheduled national news broadcast when he hosted "All Things Considered" from 1989-1991. During his watch, major news broke, including the violence in Tiananmen Square, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of dictatorships in Romania and Panama. From Washington, Guillermo hosted the shows that broke the news.
As a television journalist, his award-winning reports and commentaries have appeared on NBC, CNN, and PBS. He was a reporter in San Francisco, Dallas, and Washington, D.C.
After NPR, Guillermo became a press secretary and speechwriter for then Congressman Norman Mineta, the former cabinet member in the Bush and Clinton Administrations.
After his Hill experience, Guillermo returned to the media, hosting his own talk show in Washington, D.C. on WRC Radio. He returned to California where he hosted talk shows in San Francisco at KSFO/KGO, and in Sacramento at KSTE/KFBK.
Guillermo's columns in the ethnic press inspired a roundtable discussion program that he created, hosted, executive produced, resulting in more than 100 original half-hour programs. "NCM-TV: New California Media" was seen on PBS stations in San Francisco, Sacramento and Los Angeles, and throughout the state on cable.
Guillermo also spent time as a newspaper reporter covering the poor and the minority communities of California's Central Valley. His writing and reporting on California's sterilization program on the poor and minorities won him statewide and national journalism awards.
Guillermo, a native San Franciscan, went to Lowell High School, and graduated from Harvard College, where he was an Ivy Orator and class humorist, a distinction shared by fellow Lampoon members like James Downey (Saturday Night Live) and Conan O'Brien.
Find out what he's up to at www.amok.com.

11 Comments

Thank you for posting our website link http://www.wenholee.org. For information regarding the letter we posted please contact roger@wenholee.org. He was a big Obama supporter and delegate. You may wish to interview him.

The most unfortunate and unfair case of Dr WenHo Lee was unforgettable for most of us Asian-Americans, native-born or not.
It was a blatant example of how yellow-skin or naturalized citizens are perceived in the US – the so called “melting pot” by the white majority.
Richardson, himself half-Latino, also went through some unpleasant experience
on his way up due to his darkish skin and rather obvious Latino features, somehow took up a kind of crusader attitude to pre-judge Dr Lee as a spy for China, althoug Dr Lee was in fact born in Taiwan, not on mainland China.
He refused to apologize in the aftermath and chose to ignore or forget the whole very unjustified witch-hunt episode. For political reasons, of course.

Now as Commerce Secretary-designate, faced with a formidable Asia on the rise, what is he going to do with the Asians ? Hat in hand, shouting : Amigos,
Bienvenidos, mucho dineros aqui, por favor ! to our biggest creditors in Beijing and Tokyo ?
Wen Ho Lee’s case will forever haunt him, unless he quickly apologizes, sincerely, once for all to all of us.

When Richardson was energy secretary, two computer hard drives containing nuclear weapons secrets disappeared from a vault at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, an Energy Department facility. At a Senate hearing on the security breach in 2000, the longest-serving Democrat in the chamber, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, vowed that Richardson would

“never again receive the support of the Senate of the United States for any office to which [he] might be appointed.”

The petition on PetitionOnline has drawn over 6,000 signatures and the list is still growing. I totally agree that the WHL case will forever haunt Richardson. And as you stated, China is one of America’s biggest trading partners and creditors, Richardson, if confirmed, would have a very difficult time dealing with the Chinese as they all remember the inhumane, cruel and unusual treatment Dr. Lee received while incarcerated, something Amnesty International protested publicly.

The Obama administration needs to reassess this nomination. Senator Robert Byrd was quoted in a December 4th NY Times article that he told Richardson he would never again “receive the support of the Senate of the United States for any office to which you might be appointed.”

Richardson is very obvioiusly a very opportunisitic politician who has not too much principle or healthy sense of justice.
Obama wants to make changes. Changing the old mindsets prevailing in US politics. Now he has a very unprincipled, greedy Governor of Illinois who tried to
trade his just vacated position of US senator to the highest bidders. And now he
just nominated Richardson whose swashbuckling, aggressive attitude surely would not bring much benefits to the US which is now in very serious financial
turmoil and the worst economic slowdown in the last 60 years.
As Commerce Secretary, the world most probably would not be tame listners of a balking US or obedient compliants of any US demands.
Nobody seriously object to have a Latino holding important cabinet positions in Obama’s new regime, but Richardson is not the only choice.
The Asians are surely not against any Latinos.
Both ethnic groups were underdogs for long time in this “melting pot”.
Richardson unwittingly further aggravated the Asian image in the US by blindly
pre-judged the Wen-ho Lee case and yet still refuses to admit his serious errors.

Asians at large have voted for Obama, in hopes of changes for the better, not just for themselves but for the US as a reformed, re-energized country.
Obama should not let the Asians down.

Folks:
On this subject, one and all should read today’s New America Media feature by Dr. George Koo, who continues to bear the APA standard with smarts and aplomb.
Then we should forget all the diverse ad hominem reactions, since they are, at heart, individual responses with scant reference to the politics or the realities.
Bill Richardson, may or may not be what we conjecture. Who cares? What matters here is how he will fulfill the office. And, here, he’s the one corralled by circumstances AND options.
The guy may well be a jerk, but, he DID jump aboard the “winning” bandwagon, did he not?
As for the David Chu appointment analyzed by Dr. Koo, don’t celebrate yet. Those Chris Cox and theoneocon varmints prowling the fringes these days are still out there and they can be counted on to mount any opportunistic soapbox to advance their own agenda.
Chu would appear to be beyond such political fraggings, but were I either engineer OR scientist, I would apply myself to non-security fields, maybe entertainment, or even the “fine” arts.
Victor has more than a point. A “pardon” would “clear” his name?
As for Stentor, growl off. You’re far too fearful for your own good.
P.S.: The Obama “campaign,” that is to say, his advisors and managers, has, to date, demonstrated a bland and cross-party embrasure. But the slim hope remains that Obama the man may prove yet another possibility, like REAL “change.”
P.P.S.: AsianWeek would be well-advised to add Dr. Koo to their “stable” of “colujmnists,” they should be so fortunate, to join the likes of Phil Tajitus-Nash and Philip W. Chung. Emil’s OK, and dear awarthur might remain a “balancing” cog. And the “religious” AND demograplhic speicalists should also remain. How else can we learn our own proclivities?